651
I should like to remark that there are crimes so serious that they are not ཡིན་ན་མི་ཆེ་ by the Courts in Hong Kong. Generally, in this country, they get nine years' hard labour or penal servitude for ever. In Hong Kong, such cases are rarely committed for trial at the Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court, but are invariably disposed of by the Magistrate, who cannot sentence beyond 6 months imprisonment.
I mention this not as suggesting that such crimes are inadequately punished in Hong Kong, but I may remark that they are usually much less grave an offence than they are apt to convey to a person in England.
J.M.
P.S. I am sorry to call on you a second time in a week & on the eve of my departure for a week's leave.
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